Europa League matchday 1 preview: Milan, Sunderland and Bournemouth lead key fixtures

The 2026/27 Europa League season starts with crucial opening fixtures including AC Milan hosting Benfica and English teams Sunderland, Celtic, and Crystal Palace in action.

The 2026/27 Europa League begins on Wednesday with AC Milan against Benfica, Sunderland’s return to European competition and three English clubs preparing for very different opening tests.

Matchday 1 runs across Wednesday, 16 September and Thursday, 17 September. All 36 clubs will begin an eight-match league phase that stretches through to 28 January 2027.

Milan’s meeting with Benfica is the standout contest on the opening night. Sunderland host AZ Alkmaar at the Stadium of Light, while Thursday brings Celtic against Ferencváros, Crystal Palace against Lech Poznań and Bournemouth’s first European match away to Real Sociedad.

Six clubs will make their UEFA league-phase debuts this week: Bournemouth, Sunderland, Ararat-Armenia, Lillestrøm, OFI Crete and Torreense. The 36-team field represents 22 national associations.

For the English sides in particular, the opening two nights will offer an early indication of how well domestic form and squad depth translate to the demands of European competition.

World in Sport’s Europa League and Conference League draw preview looked at the possible opponents before the final line-up was settled. The fixtures are now confirmed, and there is little room for a slow start.

Embed from Getty Images

Europa League matchday 1 fixtures

The following fixtures and kick-off times are based on UEFA’s confirmed Europa League schedule. UK times are shown.

Milan and Benfica provide the heavyweight opener

Few matchday 1 fixtures carry more European history than Milan against Benfica.

The clubs have met six times in UEFA competition. Milan remain unbeaten across those meetings, winning four and drawing two. Their previous encounters include Milan victories over Benfica in the 1963 and 1990 European Cup finals.

Wednesday’s meeting belongs to a different era, but both clubs arrive with squads capable of shaping this competition.

Rúben Amorim now leads Milan. His registered Europa League squad includes Mike Maignan, Luka Modrić, Christian Pulišić and Portugal striker Gonçalo Ramos.

Benfica, coached by Marco Silva, have Vangelis Pavlidis, Jhon Durán, Rafa Silva and Georgiy Sudakov among their attacking options. Unlike Milan, the Portuguese side had to negotiate Europa League qualifying to reach the league phase.

Neither club can afford to treat the opening night as ceremonial. With eight matches rather than a traditional six-game group, every result contributes to one overall table.

That increases the value of points against another side likely to have ambitions of finishing near the top.

Sunderland return to the European stage

Sunderland’s match against AZ Alkmaar will carry a different kind of significance.

The Black Cats are back in European competition after more than half a century, having secured Europa League qualification through their Premier League finish last season.

Their rise also featured prominently in World in Sport’s look at Sunderland’s new era after European qualification.

The Stadium of Light should provide a demanding setting for AZ.

Sunderland also have a striking historical statistic in their favour. UEFA notes that AZ have lost all 11 of their previous away matches against English opposition. That record offers encouragement, although the Dutch club have made a positive start to their domestic season.

Sunderland enter the match after a 2-0 Premier League defeat to Arsenal on Saturday. They had previously beaten Hull City 1-0 to reach the fourth round of the League Cup.

European competition brings a different problem for Régis Le Bris and his players. Sunderland must balance the emotional significance of their return with the need to manage an eight-match schedule alongside domestic commitments.

Starting at home allows them to put points on the board before the competition becomes more demanding.

Their later league-phase schedule includes trips to Torreense, Lech Poznań, AC Milan and Anderlecht, while GNK Dinamo, Jagiellonia and Levski Sofia are among the sides due to visit Sunderland.

Embed from Getty Images

Crystal Palace step up after European success

Crystal Palace begin their Europa League campaign with recent continental experience already behind them.

Palace won the 2025/26 Conference League by beating Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in Leipzig, with Jean-Philippe Mateta scoring the decisive goal. It was the club’s first major European trophy.

World in Sport covered the conclusion of that run in Crystal Palace’s Conference League triumph.

They now step up to the Europa League and open at home against Lech Poznań.

The Polish champions have already played a significant amount of European football this season through qualifying. Winger Patrik WÃ¥lemark is one player Palace will need to monitor. He scored six times in six qualifying matches before the league phase.

Palace’s weekend preparation ended in disappointment when Ipswich Town won 3-2 at Selhurst Park. The result should make Thursday’s response even more interesting.

Recent European experience should help, but the Europa League presents a deeper field than the competition Palace won last season.

Bournemouth face a difficult first night

Bournemouth could hardly have received a more testing introduction to European football.

Their first continental fixture takes them to Spain to face Real Sociedad.

The Cherries earned direct qualification after finishing sixth in last season’s Premier League, the best league finish in the club’s history. Andoni Iraola subsequently left for Liverpool, with Marco Rose taking charge of Bournemouth’s first European campaign.

There have already been signs of adjustment under Rose.

Bournemouth recorded their first competitive victory under him with a 4-0 League Cup win over Lincoln City before drawing 2-2 with Brentford in the Premier League at the weekend.

A trip to Real Sociedad represents a significant step up.

Bournemouth’s wider schedule will also test their ability to manage European and domestic competition. AC Milan are due on the south coast on matchday 3, while their away fixtures take them to Real Sociedad, Sparta Praha, Celta and Lillestrøm.

How Rose rotates his squad could become as important as the performances of his strongest starting XI.

Celtic begin at home after Champions League disappointment

Celtic’s European campaign has already changed direction once.

They entered Champions League qualifying but lost to LASK after extra time in the play-off round. That sent Martin O’Neill’s side into the Europa League, where they begin against Ferencváros at Celtic Park.

The Hungarian champions are familiar European opponents and should not be treated as a soft landing.

Ferencváros reached last season’s Europa League knockout phase and have experience of navigating this format. Their qualifying route this season also gave them competitive European football before matchday 1.

Celtic will nevertheless see a home opener as an opportunity.

Their schedule becomes more complicated later, with Benfica, Beşiktaş and Marseille among their eight opponents. A positive result in Glasgow would reduce the pressure before those harder assignments.

Juventus, Marseille and Leverkusen add further depth

The biggest names are not confined to Milan and Benfica.

Juventus open at home against N.E.C. while Leverkusen host Celje. Lyon travel to Anderlecht and Marseille begin away to Beşiktaş.

The Beşiktaş-Marseille fixture is particularly difficult to read.

Vincenzo Italiano is now in charge of Beşiktaş after twice taking Fiorentina to Conference League finals. Marseille, meanwhile, are beginning a new period under Bruno Génésio.

Those clubs form part of a field containing considerable European pedigree.

Milan, Juventus, Benfica, Lyon, Marseille and Leverkusen will attract attention, but the league format gives ambitious clubs outside that group a genuine chance to build momentum quickly.

Embed from Getty Images

Why the opening results matter

The Europa League no longer has traditional four-team groups.

All 36 clubs occupy the same league table. Each team plays eight different opponents, with four matches at home and four away.

The top eight qualify directly for the round of 16. Clubs finishing ninth to 24th enter two-legged knockout phase play-offs. Teams ranked from 25th to 36th are eliminated from Europe.

That structure makes league position important from the opening night.

There is also a financial incentive attached to every result.

World in Sport’s 2026/27 Europa League prize-money guide details UEFA’s 2024–27 financial distribution model, which allocates €565 million to Europa League clubs each season. Each league-phase win is worth €450,000, while a draw earns €150,000 for each club.

More importantly for supporters, an early victory can immediately strengthen a club’s prospects of reaching the top eight rather than facing an additional knockout tie in February.

The league phase will not be decided this week, but matchday 1 can establish the first fault lines.

Milan and Benfica begin with one of the hardest assignments available. Sunderland return to Europe at home. Palace carry the confidence of a continental trophy into a higher competition, while Bournemouth step into European football for the first time in San Sebastián.

By Thursday night, the first version of the 36-team table will finally have substance behind it.

World In Sport Forum

Continue the discussion

Join other fans in the World In Sport Forum and debate the biggest talking points from this article.

Visit the forum